I'll Meet You There
by Pyralspite
Summary: There was only one thing that registered in his mind...that she was gone.


**_A/N: This is just an idea that was in my head for a while. A quick one-shot. This is a good way to get my emotions out. I usually pour them into my stories._**

**_Here's you weekly serving of angst people._**

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_She was gone_

This was the only sentence that registered in Peeta's mind completely. It had been three months since the war ended. Panem was now united, and the Districts were being rebuilt. The country was becoming a more peaceful and equal place.

But that didn't matter to him.

All that registered in his head was that she was gone. It had been three months since she passed, and each day, her death haunted him, the broken glass that pierced his heart digging deeper as he thought of how she looked in her final moments.

_Katniss focused the arrow on Snow. A malicious smile decorated his face, as crimson blood leaked down his chin, dripping slowly onto his vest and the white rose in his lapel. Her bow quivered slightly as a fierce mental battle occurred in her head. After a few moments, she seemed to come to her decision. Quick as a flash, she lets go of the arrow._

_Only, instead of hitting Snow, it embeds itself in Alma Coin's neck._

_The President of District 13 goes down, emitting a horrible choking sound as blood started flowing from the wound on her neck. Within seconds, she was dead. Katniss looked on, her expression determined and a bit wild._

_President Snow cackled, blood drenching his suit. He choked on the crimson liquid, hacking gasps coming from his mouth, as officials from District 13 rushed in to restrain Katniss._

_The huntress struggled against them almost as if she was a wild animal. A crazed look entered her eyes. She quickly snapped her head to the side, trying to bite the pocket on her shoulder that held the deadly pill that would kill her in seconds. She bit down, but instead of coming upon a pill, she finds a hand._

_She opens her eyes to see her former lover, Peeta Mellark, looking at her. His face is contorted in pain, as she bites his hand, trying to make him remove it. Katniss draws blood, the metallic tang filling her mouth, but she hardly cared. She looked at him ,her eyes full of malice._

"_Let go!" she screamed gutturally. He shakes his head no, and something cold enters her arm._

_She is lost to the world._

_When she awakens, she finds herself in a bed. She gets up slowly, trying to discern her location. Looking out of the window, Katniss finds that she is in an apartment overlooking the Capitol. Bright lights and sounds echo from below, much as they had before the games, and Katniss wonders if perhaps the rebellion was all a nightmare. She wonders if it's still the night before the games._

_A glance at her arms tells her otherwise._

_They are covered in burn scars. Some are almost normal skin color, while others are a tight stretched pink, and others are bright red. She winces as a draft hits her arms, making them sting in pain._

_Katniss opens the door, trying to discern if there was anyone else nearby. She suddenly remembers what happened before she passed out, and the entirety of the situation hits her._

_Her little sister was dead._

_She had just killed the President._

_Peeta had stopped her from killing herself._

_Katniss leaned against the wall, trying to fight back the tears that threatened to surface. Her heart clenched painfully at the thought of her little sister, with her bright eyes and blonde hair. She slid against the wall, crumpling to a heap at the base of the wall. She started sobbing, horrible gulping sobs that wracked through her small frame. She continued to sob to herself, until she felt warm arms pick her up, almost as if she was a rag doll. She opened her eyes, and grey met blue as she stared into the eyes of Peeta Mellark. She flung her hands around his neck and cried into his shoulder._

_He sat down on the bed and placed her in his lap. He stroked her hair and shushed her, soothing her sobs until they were mere hiccups. The tracker Jacker venom had worn off, and Peeta's previous love for Katniss returned swiftly._

_Eventually, she quieted down. Thinking that she was asleep, Peeta tried to place her on the bed, but she grabbed his arm._

"_Stay with me," she said her pitiful grey eyes boring into his. He nodded._

"_Always,"_

_The next day, they woke up in each other's arms, and lay there for a bit, enjoying the feeling of human interaction. They were broken, and they knew it. Their only comfort was eachother._

_They soon got up, not uttering a single word. Katniss sat on her bed, her knees gathered to her chest, rocking back and forth. Peeta was sitting near the wall, his eyes glazed over._

_Suddenly, with a sharp noise, the door slammed open. Standing there was a man in a black hood. His blonde hair was light, almost white, and his violet eyes were wide, malicious. Peeta immediately jumped up, standing between Katniss and the intruder._

"_Who the hell are you?" he asked, his blue eyes already murderous. The intruder chuckled at them._

"_Bread Boy, I am your worst nightmare," the man said, and with that, plunged a knife into Peeta's gut. Peeta yelled out in pain, and dropped to the ground writing in agony, trying not to black out. Sharp pain rushed up his body, and he moaned. _

_The last thing he heard before passing out was Katniss's scream._

_When he awoke, all he was aware of was blood. Pain rushed up his body. He curled inwardly on himself, trying to block out the pain._

"_Katniss"_

_He remembered what had transpired when he blacked out. Ignoring his pain and pushing a hand against his wounded side, he got up, the pain almost crippling him._

_She was on the bed, her hair splayed around her head. She looked beautiful, her eyes closed, almost as if she was asleep._

_There was a knife in her chest. Blood matted on her clothes. Her skin was grey, sapped of blood. _

_Her grey eyes were the last thing he thought of before he blacked out again._

Peeta screamed out in agony from the memory, the guttural noise echoing around his house. He knew nobody would hear him. There were bags underneath his eyes, and his hair had lost his sheen. His blue eyes had a glazed look to them. His skin was now gray, and he was little more than a living skeleton; a shell of his former self. He cried out once more, knowing that his cries would fall upon deaf ears. The Victors Village was occupied by only him and one other person at the moment, though it was to be populated soon.

The other person had drunk himself to oblivion, ignoring the world and the tribute he had mentored. The young man cried out against the cruelty of the war. The war had taken away so much from him. It had taken his eldest brother Spencer, his middle brother Rye, and his mother and father. It had then taken Finnick Odair, one of his best friends. It had taken away Katniss's sweet little sister, a sister who had nothing against the world. The worst was that it had taken his love from him.

It had taken Katniss.

After a while, his sobs quieted. He picked himself up, and went over to the dresser to pick a shirt to wear. While he was looking through the drawers, his hand brushed up against something round and smooth. He picked it out of the dresser, and found it to be Katniss's pearl. It was the pearl he had given to her in the Quarter Quell, the pearl that symbolized hope.

Right next to the pearl was a picture. Peeta picked it up, and was met with the sight of he and Katniss kissing. This was the final straw that broke the camel's back.

Peeta's sanity left him at that very moment

He fell onto his bed, his mind rushing. His eyes glazed over, as memories assaulted him. Memories of him and Katniss. Of the first day he saw her, in her plaid dress. Memories of their games, the kiss in the cave, how she nursed him back to health. How their love blossomed again before the Quarter Quell. He remembered the night before the Quarter Quell, full of sweet kisses and promises. He remembered being imprisoned in the Capitol, the thought of her keeping him sane. He remembered her grey eyes, her dark luscious hair, her olive skin, her soft gentle lips against his.

He broke completely and utterly. At that moment, he knew what he had to do. He started humming a tune that Katniss loved to sing to him.

_Are you, Are you, Coming to the tree?_

_Where they hung up a man said to murder three_

_Strange things did happen here, no stranger would it seem_

_If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree_

He went outside to the shed, shielding his eyes from the midday sun. He could see Haymitch's house. The windows were closed, and the house was dark. For all Peeta knew, the old man could be dead.

_Are you, Are you, Coming to the tree?_

_Where the dead man called out, for his love to flee,_

_Strange things did happen here, no stranger would it seem,_

_If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree_

He entered the shed and searched around. He found what he was looking for.

A thick rope.

He picked it up and hurried back to the house.

_Are you, Are you, Coming to the tree?_

_Where I told you to run, so we'd both be free_

_Strange things did happen there, not stranger would it seem,_

_If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree_

He ran up the stairs to his room. He opened his closet, and spotted a bar at the very top. Getting up on a chair, he tied one end of the rope around the bar. The other end, he tied into a noose.

_Are you, Are you, coming to the tree?_

Peeta walked over to the bed. He picked up the pearl, and the picture of him and Katniss.

_Wear a necklace made of rope, side by side with me_

He kissed the picture, putting it in his pocket. He put the pearl in his shirt pocket, keeping it close to his heart, as he walked to the closet.

_Strange things did happen here, no stranger would it seem_

He got up on the stepstool, and closed his eyes.

_If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree_

He remembered her face one last time. Her careful smile, her sparkling grey eyes. A vision of a girl with dark hair and blue eyes, and a boy with blonde hair and grey eyes flashed into his head. A vision of what could have been.

"I'm coming Katniss, I'll meet you there. I'll meet you in the meadow," he said, tears bubbling up in his eyes. He took a deep breath.

And stepped off the chair.

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**tell me what you guys thought of it!**

**sincerely,**

**the angst ridden fourteen year old teenage sugar addict**

**~Reaper**


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